#liung

[rosaaureaart]

Hi ! Thank you all for the recent influx of notes ! Pictured above is the head of the Liung type species L. tetranguis and a juvenile Liung sp.

[xaquax]

[xaquax]

[sagewren]

Sage Wren

is not Sage’s real name, it’s simply the name he goes by that all other races can pronounce. It has some similarities to his real name in terms of sound, but otherwise the words were only chosen for their sound, not meaning.

This naming convention was not common, only taking place among certain individuals who travelled or had to speak to other races. With current times, however, young dragons are taking on these other names because it’s a kinda cool thing to do so. 

Most government officials also go by names that other races can pronounce, e.g. Sage’s boss Senma Ri.

[ghosta-r]

Liung - chapter 4

As Hiccup slept deeper than he ever had in a long time, he was blessed with silent and dreamless slumber, void of all but warmth. It was the first time he had slept in peace, the nightmares gone from within him forever. He had never felt such silence. Very suddenly, his sleep was broken. His eyes shot open and he gasped loudly. It was dark. He had no idea where he was. A warm blanket covered him where he lay, but he shivered bitterly. His guts twisted in crippling nausea. His skull throbbed painfully and his hands stung. And everywhere was sore. But somehow, as if fate itself had spoken to him, he knew he was somewhere safe. "Hiccup?" a voice soothed from behind a door. He knew that voice. The sound of a sliding door could be heard, and there were soft footsteps coming closer and closer to him. When he opened his eyes after realizing they had closed, he looked at the person before him and a lump quickly formed in his throat. "Astrid..." "Shhh." She gently ran her fingers through his hair, then let her palm rest on his cheek. Her eyes were sad. "Oh, Astrid..." He could barely find the strength to speak. "You found me..." Astrid suddenly let out a soft sob. "I miss you so much, Hiccup. Please come home." He was taken aback. "...What?" "Berk needs you. Your mother needs you. Toothless needs you." Another sob was released from her throat, and she stroked his cheek with her thumb. "I need you. Please, if there's only one thing I want you to do, then come home to us. I miss you." "But, Astrid... I'm right here..." Then, suddenly, her entire body disappeared into thin air right before his eyes. He no longer heard her voice or felt her hand on his cheek. It had only been a shade of his memory, and she was gone. "Astrid...!" A sad purr came from the door behind him. He heard scratching and whining and the sliding of a tail against a wooden floor. "Toothless...?" The scratching on the door turned more intense. The dragon whined louder, desperate to return to his rider. Wincing and gathering all the strength he had left, he pulled himself from beneath the warmth of the blanket to the hard, cold floor, crawling on his knees and stinging hands to where he thought the door was. His palms dragged along the wood and made his flesh burn all the more. But he ignored it. "It's... okay, bud... I'm right... here..." He pawed at the door, but his energy had diminished; used up in his last efforts to reunite with his best friend. Falling onto the floor, his eyes closed once more, and he lost all sense of consciousness as his mind slipped back into the darkness. When his eyes opened again, the room was still dimly lit, but not as much due to the sun beginning to rise. His senses told him that he had been moved back to his rightful place on the floor mat beneath the blanket. Someone was sitting beside him; someone small, but the fog in his mind was so thick he couldn't make it out. There was a hand behind his head. Something was raised to his lips. He quickly realized that it was water and opened his mouth to let the water relieve the sore, dry sensation in his throat. The someone that was helping him did most of the work for him. He knew it wasn't Astrid. With great effort, his eyes creaked open. He looked at the figure beside him; a small, raven-haired girl with fair skin and pale, almond-shaped eyes that looked straight ahead. She couldn't have been more than 9 or 10 years old, and she was dressed in a strange outfit of several colors, laid out in elaborate patterns and designs. Her hair was pinned up in three different ways on her head. Despite her strange appearance, her smile was gentle. "Wh..." he mouthed silently, unable to use his voice, "...where am I?" The little girl said nothing. "Where am I?" he said again, a little stronger this time. She suddenly spoke. "Far from your home, no doubt," she said softly and slowly in a strange accent. "You must rest now, or your fever will only grow worse." With that, she gently laid a cold, damp cloth over his forehead and rested her hand on his shoulder. He wanted to ask who she was, but sleep had taken him long before he could say a word. Just like before, his sleep was dreamless. He was grateful, however, that there were no more nightmares. At least for now. [author's note: I'm gonna be busy for a few days so don't be surprised if the next chapter isn't posted for a while]

[ghosta-r]

Liung - chapter 3

They walked for hours. Strongly wary of the mysterious Dreamscape surrounding him, Hiccup followed the fox quietly over massive hills made of sand and down rivers of anything from lava to blood. Pictures of his past would flicker here and there, showing him the things he barely remembered or only dared to remember and reminding him of both happy and sad moments. All of his memories were there, twisted or not. "You must listen to me carefully, child," said the fox, stopping to look at Hiccup with cold yellow-green eyes. "A great darkness approaches the world. I have seen it. If not stopped, it will devastate and destroy all in its path." Hiccup's eyebrows knit together in deep thought. "Is that why you brought me here?" "Not entirely. I will give you the strength you need to save your people. But it is a long journey across this land and we must be quick. The Dreamscape is not kind to uninvited visitors." They approached a tall dirt mound, and the fox began to climb it, gesturing for Hiccup to follow. He clambered up the crumbly earth uneasily. As he reached the summit that revealed the land beyond, he hadn't realized he stopped breathing. On the other side of the mound were corpses. Thousands of them. Piled onto one another like mountains and mangled as if from a massive battle. He saw people from every island he knew of and from lands he did not know. He could see that some were from Berserker island, and some were from the Outcast island. But some... Some were from Berk. They were his people. And they were all dead. "This," the fox announced, "is what will happen should you fail to answer the third call." A thick lump formed in his throat. He held his hand over his mouth to keep from vomiting from the stench. His teary eyes scanned over the open graveyard and he caught sight of a blonde braid and a fur hood covered with blood. He paled. "Astrid!" he screamed, bolting from his spot to where he saw her body. The fox leapt in front of him to keep him from running any further. "No! Do not go to them! You do not understand." He stopped, gasped, and collapsed to the ground in dark dismay. Tears had already begun rolling down his face, but he didn't notice. "What you see is only a shadow of that which has not yet come to pass." Sniffing, he looked up at the creature. Its eyes were icy, far too cold to have a heart. Why did the fox take him to this place? Why is it showing him the future? He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "What do I have to do to stop this?" "When I sing the Call of the Sword, you must answer. Only then will you be strong enough to prevent darkness and ruin from destroying your people." When Hiccup looked back up at the thousands of corpses, they had all disappeared. All that was left was barren, cracking earth, stretching over a huge field with a massive black wall of nothingness on the other side. He tried to breathe deeply, but the fear and hopelessness seemed to overwhelm him. Why was it so painful? How could he keep going? "Hurry now," the fox called from halfway down the other side of the hill. "We must be swift here. Visions of the future can be severely damaging to those who take their time here." Once he reached the bottom of the mound, they began to run. The cracks in the earth began to glow fiery red, threatening to unleash some sort of demonic force on the two travelers. He tried not to look at them as they ran over the field, but the deafening explosions in the cracks behind them made him glance there. An enormous monster made of disembodied limbs and dragon skin rose from beneath the field, roaring with all its might to signal its arrival. What was visible of the sky turned pitch black, and hot ashes began to fall from the blood-red clouds. The fox ran behind Hiccup, who was running with all the strength he had left. "Faster, child!" shouted the fox. He was gasping, panting, his legs and ribs screaming for rest, but he had to keep going. More terrible monsters looking as if Hel herself had sent them had risen from the cracks, and they were starting to give chase. The fox urged him on as they approached the end of the field, where there was only pure blackness. He didn't think he could make it without collapsing. "If you value your life, you must ignore the pain!" He stumbled on. Something caught on his metal prosthetic, but he ignored it and still tried to run. The fox had already reached the edge of the dark void, and the massive creatures behind them had begun to destroy the field, hills, and mountains around them, leaving everything behind Hiccup in a state of collapsing explosion and everything ahead of him dark and empty. With one final leap as time itself seemed to slow down, Hiccup jumped from the imploding ground and fell into the void. "No, no no no no!!" roared the fox's faraway voice. "The little fool!!" But he did not hear the fox's cries. He floated aimlessly in the dark, gravity not holding him down, for what seemed like hours. There was no sound, no warmth, no cold, no memory, no light. It truly was the void; deprived of everything. Hundreds of unclear images of intense brightness flickered maddeningly behind his eyelids, silently chaotic in their place. Hiccup felt gravity begin to pull him down again and light begin to illuminate the darkness. He wondered where he was going... ...And his senses returned, one by one. Cold. His eyes did not open. Sand. He suddenly felt a wave of ocean water crash over his body, and his eyes shot open. Everything came back to him all too quickly but somehow not fast enough; it was as if he had been asleep for a hundred years. Nausea plagued his stomach and he was sore or stinging everywhere. His hands were bleeding. Blood dripped from his forehead. There was no strength left in his body. But he was alive. As he tried to sit up, he realized just how weak he really was. All he could manage was turning over from his stomach to his back and look up at the flat gray sky, which showered a little drizzle of rain onto his limp form on the sand. The rain felt good to him, despite it being so cold. It was a long time before he found the strength to stand up and find out where he was. There was nothing but a long beach that stretched from one horizon to the other, and a tall cliff bordering the other side. The ocean was clear; no other land could be seen. He could not see past the looming rock coast, nor could he see anything on either side of the beach. It appeared that he was completely alone. "Wh... "Where am I?" He stumbled more than he thought he would as he walked very slowly along the beach. When he looked down at his wood and iron prosthetic, he saw that there was a huge crack in the wood, and the iron was twisted and bent in several places. It was not too far gone to be repaired, but at the moment he could do nothing for it. He exhaled deeply in dismay and kept walking, not even caring if one leg felt a little shorter than the other. All of his armor had gone, too. Last he remembered, he fell asleep at the camp with his complex flight suit on and had gone through the entire Dreamscape with it. After he awoke on the beach, he discovered that all that was left were his boot, pants, and two shirts, all of which were battered and torn. He might as well have been wearing rags. This left him far colder and vulnerable than any person should experience, and did not make his nausea, dizziness, or tiredness any better. It only got worse. Twice he vomited into the ocean. It hurt badly to do so, because there was hardly anything in his stomach in the first place. All that came up was some pale green saliva. Although he still felt sick afterwards, he began to feel hungry. After all, his stomach had forcibly emptied itself and he hadn't eaten for at least a whole day, if not longer. But still, like his broken prosthetic, he could do nothing about it. All he could do was keep walking and try to find something, anything, that would help him. After over an hour of seeing nothing but clear ocean, gray skies, cliffsides, and the endless beach, he finally saw something grow sharper through the mist. It was something big and white. In curiosity and anticipation, he walked faster. The ocean mist cleared. He stopped as he got close. It was a dragon. But it wasn't just any dragon, it was a species he had never seen before. He had never even seen anything closely resembling this species. It was very long and white, and almost had the form of a serpent with four little legs. Unlike the other breeds with a rustic and deeply textured appearance, this dragon's scales were very smooth and organized, laid in rows one on top of the other. A line of flowing white fur ran from its head to its tail. Its head was long, with small, petite teeth and cord-like tails hanging from above its nostrils and ears. But what was most striking about the dragon to him were its eyes. A dragon back home would have looked at him with yellow-green or orange eyes, the pupil large and eyebrow muscles raised. This white serpent before him looked at him with deep blue eyes, sleek and gentle, yet so wise and calm. He had never seen anything like this dragon. Cautiously, he stepped closer and raised his hand to show he meant no harm. When the dragon only blinked in response, he took another step. The dragon showed no signs of hostility or disapproval as he got close enough to lay his hand in the center of its snout. He gasped, the scales smooth and velvety beneath his palm. The dragon began to purr softly, and its eyes closed as it swooped its long neck around him to draw him closer to its coils. The remnants of his strength faltering for the last time, he let go of the dragon's snout and fell onto the dragon's back. The fur was soft against his cheek, but he hardly felt it because of his exhaustion. The dragon very gently rubbed the edge of its snout on Hiccup's head, then laid its head around him quietly. A voice crept into the air. Small. Feminine. Alarmed. His eyes creaked open just slightly, for he had enough strength to reveal his surroundings. His gaze followed the sound of the voice. All he saw before he slipped deeply into unconsciousness was a tiny figure dressed in black approaching him on the beach as it began to rain harder...

[scharlachgast-blog]

HMPH.

[ghosta-r]

Liung - chapter 2

[author’s note: We get down to business in this chapter so hang on tight.]

Two hours later, they landed on the island. It was quiet, hilly, and heavily wooded; a prime place for wild game to thrive. After finding a well-lit, easily accessible clearing and setting up their small camp, they got right to the hunt.

While Fishlegs, Snotlout, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut were assigned with catching birds and fish, Hiccup, Eret, Valka, and Astrid patrolled the woods for larger game like deer. Most of them had been on hunts in previous autumns, so they knew how to set bait, rig traps, shoot a bow, and field-dress an animal, which was particularly revolting to Hiccup, for he had not always gone on the hunts before. The dragons helped by tracking scents and cleaning up a kill by eating all of the discarded innards. Needless to say, it didn’t settle well with anyone’s stomachs, not even the dragons.

Naturally, the first day didn’t bring as much luck as expected to the eight riders, but they did make some progress. Once darkness fell and the air turned icy cold, the group rendezvoused to their camp in the clearing, where they gathered around the fire for food and drink. After a few hours of camaraderie, the group settled into their furs beside their dragons and, one by one, fell asleep.

Except for Hiccup.

As tired as he was, he didn’t dare go to sleep. He knew that his nightmares would plague his slumber again, keeping him from his strength and focus. Eyelids drooping, he could almost feel the dreams crouching in the shadows, just waiting for him to fall asleep so they had the chance to attack his mind. He often didn’t want to admit it to himself, but yes, he was afraid. Terrified, in fact. He couldn’t keep reliving the twisted memories anymore. If he did, he’d undoubtedly lose his mind. But what could he do?

Without wanting to, sleep came upon him like twilight in wintertime; quick and quiet.

Darkness. The dream world was mysteriously covered with silence and blackness, but it did not remain so for long.

The memories began to repeat.

“Toothless?

“It’s me, bud. Toothless, I’m right here.

"Come back to me…”

“He’s not yours anymore. He belongs to the Alpha.”

“Good dragons under the control of bad people… do bad things…”

“What shame he must feel.”

“Believe me, I’ve tried, but people are not capable of change, Hiccup.”

“Because Drago Bludvist is a madman, without conscience or mercy. And if he is building a dragon army… gods help us all.”

“He will not miss a second time.”

Hiccup’s eyes shot open, and he gasped suddenly. He was shaking. The fire was wilder, the ice was deeper, and the darkness had been more brooding than it ever was before.

Chest heaving up and down, he looked around. The fire pit had died out long ago, and everyone else was still asleep. It was a misty autumn morning, and the grass was tipped with frost. Thin sunlight shone weakly through the overhead trees. Bluebirds and cardinals whistled little songs in the treetops. Toothless purred in his sleep. It was not long before Hiccup’s panic died down. Everything was all right.

“Little soul from afar…”

Hiccup sat up quickly. He glanced around. He was so sure he had heard a voice, singing a very sweet and beautiful tune somewhere close. He had never heard such a voice. But the clearing was empty of its owner. Perhaps he was still asleep.

“…hear my call… One with nature, I stand tall…”

There it was again. This time, he was sure he was awake. But where could it be coming from?

He stood up, careful not to wake Toothless, and followed the sound of that sweet, sweet voice.

Listening closely as he walked along a path in the woods, he noted that the voice was so strong and lovely to listen to, and… it was… alluring. Could he truly be searching for only a voice? He wondered if he should go back, but he kept listening… and he kept walking. Something was guiding his steps, whether it be the mystic vocals dancing in the air, or his curiosity. He wasn’t entirely sure where he was going, for the path seemed to change right before his eyes, and every step brought new sounds that blended beautifully with the voice. The trees became thicker and their roots protruded out from the ground. The sky turned dark gray. Fireflies hummed and waltzed in the shadows. Dewdrops sounded gongs as they splashed onto the mushrooms. He seemed to be in a whole other place.

“I sing my song so you might hear… the loving hope that draws you near…”

For a moment he wanted to go back for fear of the voice being a deception. He was about to stop but realized that he was still walking along the beautiful path. Why was he still going? Despite that, he didn’t question it and let himself keep walking.

Mist rolled onto the path, and the wood thinned to reveal a crystal-clear, shallow pool beside a small waterfall. Out of the forest he walked, and he took a few steps into the pool, slowly and straight forward, and he stopped as the fog faded atop the water.

Out of the pale gray curtains came a creature; a slender figure covered in deep orange and white fur. Its eyes were cool, and its large, tufted ears were pointed. It was a fox, and it stepped slowly towards him as he stood there. He was most surprised to see that the fox did not have a bushy tail; but in its place were nine identical cobras, moving in a steady wave from side to side. The fox’s eyes locked onto him.

“The fox is clever, the fox is red… I stand in the river, you stand ahead…”

He realized that not only was the voice coming from the fox in front of him, but the song was directed to him. However, he stood there, silent.

“Your fate will twist, and the snow will fall… The magic exists…

”… Now answer my call.

The song ended. All of the sounds faded into the silence of the forest, and the fox stood there in the very still pool, as if it was waiting for him to say something. For some reason, he did not.

“Will you answer the Call of the Fox?” the creature suddenly said, although its mouth did not move.

His eyes were frozen in place. Something told him to turn around and walk away, but the other half of him told him to respond.

So he did.

“… Yes.”

The fox closed its eyes for a moment. “Very good.”

As if willed by some intangible force, Hiccup took a few more steps into the pool, deeper and closer. He stretched out his hand, and the fox pressed its snout into his palm. Another song began.

“Little soul from afar, hear my call… One with memory, I stand tall… I sing my call so you might hear… The memories that draw you near…”

Hiccup remembered his nightmares of twisted memories and knew this call was meant for him, no matter what happened to him when he answered. He closed his eyes, feeling some kind of strange magic clear his mind and bring him to an unexplained and very quiet state of peace. It was like no peace he had ever felt before; he wanted to keep it forever. But the song went on.

The dreamscape is dark, the dreamscape is red… I stand with my mark, you stand ahead…

“Your mind will twist, and the ash will fall… The magic exists…

… Now answer my call.”

Hiccup’s eyes opened once more. The fox had stepped back and curled its tails around its front paws. The fox’s cool eyes were boring into Hiccup like a wolf.

“You have answered the Call of the Fox,” the fox said. “Will you answer the Call of the Dreamscape?”

For a moment, he did not respond. Distantly, behind him, he could faintly hear familiar voices calling his name. Was it Astrid? And his mother? Was he really gone that long?

“Hiccup!” called Astrid’s voice. “Hiccup, where are you?”

He told himself to turn around and just walk away. But he was frozen in place. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t even blink. Something was keeping him here, and although he didn’t fully want to go, he didn’t really want to stay, either. What would happen to him if he did answer this creature’s call?

Although he didn’t really want to, he opened his mouth and said,

“Yes.”

Both of them closed their eyes. “Very good,” the fox said in a darker and lower voice than before.

All of a sudden, Hiccup opened his eyes to see that everything around him had turned from a pale woodland morning to a dark, nightmarish place that resembled the wood somehow, but everything was red and black and the crystal-clear pool looked like lava now. An ominous, yellow-green glow was omitting from the fox and breaking into leaf-like light particles. They drifted in the air towards Hiccup, landing on his chest and the backs of his hands. They began to turn red and simmer deep into his skin. It burned.

He winced in pain, staring at the burning leaves on his hands and gasping from the deep tightness that had begun to form in his chest, but he did not stop the fox nor did he turn. Why couldn’t he just go? Why couldn’t he? Why was he still here?

The leaves fluttered in a dancing pattern around his head. Overwhelmed by the pain, he dropped to his knees and cried out. The voices behind him were growing stronger, and louder, and closer. The fox was still sitting there, gazing at him coolly.

“Wha- what’s happening to me?” he gasped, shuddering.

“I have given you two things of great value,” said the fox. “And we are entering the Dreamscape.”

Images of wheels with symbols inside them and compasses that pointed to the fox appeared in the air, spinning and turning around and making everything turn red. The woods burned away and fell to reveal endless rivers of lava, mountains of dust, and the flat, flickering images of memories flipping about here and there. Some of them were not memories at all, and some of them were not even his. He couldn’t even see the sky anymore. This was the Dreamscape.

Then, it all turned silent. The pain abruptly stopped. He couldn’t hear Astrid or his mother calling his name. Not even a gust of wind was heard in the air. It was as if time itself had paused.

The fox stood up and turned towards what looked like the south, walking slowly.

“Come, it is a long journey.”

“But where are we going?” he inquired, standing up and following the creature. “Why did you want me to answer those calls? What did they mean?”

The fox stopped and turned to him. “All will be answered in due time. Now, we must go.”

“I can’t stay here forever… I’ve got to get back sometime. My tribe needs me.”

“When you answer the Call of the Sword, then you will be able to return to your people.”

“The Call of the… Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but what makes you think you can just hypnotize people with those songs of yours and make them enter this… this nightmare? I mean… what kind of a creature are you, anyway?”

“You would do well to refrain from speaking.”

“Give me one good reason why.”

“Voices disturb the memories. They prefer the silence.”

“Dreamscape…” he repeated in his mind.

He fell to his knees. Something within him collapsed, something he didn’t know was there but didn’t want to let go of. This fox had taken him from his home and into his own nightmares. No explanation. No assurance of return. Just the calls.

“Wh… why?” he whispered as he looked to the burning red sky. “After everything I’ve fought to protect, after all the things I’ve seen, you’re just going to take me away? Why?”

The sky did not answer.

“Please tell me.”

Silence.

Whatever faith he had left faltered, knowing that he spoke to no one.

“Come, child,” the fox called sternly from several yards away.

Without anywhere else to go, Hiccup staggered up and began walking.